A report claims Everton are in for Chile international Marcelino Nunez and have already had an offer of over £7million rejected by Norwich City
Chile is the land of the ‘other’ Everton of course but while the Blues haven’t yet had a player from the South American nation, that could change if they were to land Marcelino Nunez. Founded in 1909 after Everton had recently completed a pioneering tour of the continent, Everton de Vina del Mar are nicknamed Ruleteros (Roulette players) because of the Pacific coast city’s status as a gambling resort.
Four times Chilean champions, in 2010 they crossed the Andes, Amazon and Atlantic to come to Goodison Park and contest ‘The Brotherhood Cup’ where they were beaten 2-0 by the original Everton as goals from Jermaine Beckford (51) and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (65) brought victory for David Moyes’ side. Could the Blues soon have a player from Chile themselves though?
A report in Norwich’s Pink ‘Un cites Chilean publication La Tercera as claiming Everton have had a £7.2million bid for Nunez rejected by Canaries sporting director Ben Knapper. The article adds that the 24-year-old has been one of the first names on Johannes Hoff Thorup’s team sheet when fit this season, becoming a key cog in the Dane’s possession-based system and hitting his highest goal tally in yellow and green already.
READ MORE: Why Everton and Liverpool did something that now seems incredible after FA Cup drawREAD MORE: Five players could leave Everton in January transfer window as Friedkin Group face early decisions
Born in Recoleta on March 1, 2000, Nunez started his career in Chile’s capital city Santiago with Universidad Catolica, making 84 appearances for them and scoring 12 goals before joining Norwich City for an undisclosed fee, understood to be around £3.25million, on August 2, 2022. So far, he’s turned out 101 times for the Norfolk outfit, netting nine goals, including four in 20 outings this term.
Capped 28 times for Chile, with four international goals, what might Nunez potentially bring to Sean Dyche’s side. Comparisonator’s Similarity comparison tool calculates Brentford’s Vitaly Janelt as being the closest Premier League match to him in terms of playing style at 91%, followed by Aston Villa’s former Everton home-grown talent Ross Barkley (78%) and Newcastle United’s Sean Longstaff (74%) who has been a reputed long-time Blues target. Comparisonator’s A.I. Team Finder also rates Everton as one of no fewer than nine Premier League teams, along with Wolverhampton Wanderers, Southampton, Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Fulham and Brentford, who could potentially benefit from bringing in Nunez as he is deemed to be a better fit than their incumbent player in the same position.
The Chilean is given an A.I. Suitability Weight of 154.05 compared to Orel Mangala’s 148.33 and Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 123.25. Comparisonator’s Virtual Transfer tool can also correlate Nunez’s statistics from the Championship this season against players in his position already turning out in the Premier League.
His comparative distribution figures are higher than anyone currently in the Everton team and his average of 50.08 passes per 90 minutes would place him third in the Premier League behind leader Youri Tielemans of Aston Villa (63.56) and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City (55.5). His 42.83 successful passes would put him fourth after Tielemans (54.89); Silva (48.38) and fellow Manchester City player Ilkay Gundogan (45.57) and for context, the Blues’ best performer in that area is Mangala down in 33rd position with 23.
Nunez’s 2.17 successful long passes per 90 minutes would place him fifth in a category topped by West Ham United’s Lucas Paqueta (3.4), while 4.42 successful passes in the final third would rank him eighth, behind leader Tielemans on 10.44. He’d also be third for expected assists (0.25) after Phil Foden of Manchester City (0.48) and Declan Rice of Arsenal (0.28) while he would come in eighth for playing in scoring attacks (0.75), where Tielemans again leads the way on 1.44.
Although such figures are in the second tier, Everton do have a decent record of bringing through talented individuals from the Championship in the past and with the takeover of the club by The Friedkin Group now complete and an expectation that the Blues’ long-standing PSR issues will soon be over, some funds could now be available for the January transfer window. If Nunez is able to successfully make the step up, he would offer Dyche’s men a different kind of profile in the centre of the park.
*Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.
